Posey making biggest impact behind plate

Updated 10:08 am, Friday, October 26, 2012

Buster Posey played catcher for the fifth straight game in a span of seven days. All five were great starts for the Giants' rotation.

Buster Posey played catcher for the fifth straight game in a span of seven days. All five were great starts for the Giants' rotation.

Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle

Posey making biggest impact behind plate

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So the Tigers intentionally walked Pablo Sandoval to get to Buster Posey.

Taking a pass on the free swinger to pitch to the MVP candidate?

That's how much Game 1 of the World Series changed everything.

Surprised, Buster?

"Pablo's the hottest hitter in the world," he said. "So, no, I don't think so."

Sandoval was walked on purpose with Posey on deck just twice in the regular season.

"He didn't hit three homers in a game in the regular season," Posey said with a smile.

Now, Sandoval is the most dangerous hitter on the Giants' roster, and Posey is a guy with a postseason average of .216, not exactly indicative of a batting champ. But Posey's value goes far beyond his work in the batter's box.

During the summer, Posey generally played first base or sat out every few days, but he has caught five straight pitching gems, from Barry Zito's in the Championship Series to Ryan Vogelsong's and Matt Cain's that finished off the Cardinals to Zito's in the World Series opener to Madison Bumgarner's on Thursday.

In the stretch, all Giants wins, the starters' ERA is 0.55, a far cry from the 6.49 ERA in their first six postseason games. The latest was Bumgarner's seven shutout innings, reminiscent of Game 4 of the 2010 World Series when he and Posey (the all-rookie battery) helped give the Giants a 3-1 series edge over Texas before Tim Lincecum closed it out.

For the first time all year, Posey is the everyday catcher, needing no help from Hector Sanchez. It's as if he, the coaching staff and medical staff - in the wake of Posey's gruesome home-plate collision that cost him the final four months of the 2011 season - targeted October as the time he'd reach his physical peak.

"I feel great," he said. "Yeah, I feel great."

It shows, especially defensively.

Bumgarner had surrendered 10 earned runs in eight innings in his first two postseason starts and temporarily lost his rotation spot.

"To get a guy through a game like that, a guy who's scuffling, it shows the character Buster's got," said bullpen catcher Bill Hayes, who doubles as the catchers' coach. "Typically, when you're with a guy who's scuffled, you're putting fingers down and don't know what's coming. But Buster gets a good feel in the bullpen.

"When he crosses the white line, he's making some pretty good calls on guys who are part of a pretty potent offense. (Bumgarner) didn't throw many breaking balls tonight, but he threw cutters in and fastballs in. When you shut out that team, you're doing something. He's being creative is what he's doing."

Offense is another matter. Posey hit .178 in the first two rounds of the playoffs, though his grand slam against the Reds virtually clinched the Division Series. He went 2-for-4 in the World Series opener, including a sharp single off Justin Verlander, and was 1-for-3 on Thursday, an opposite-field single in his first at-bat.

In the eighth, with Angel Pagan on second, Detroit manager Jim Leyland called for Sandoval to be walked so Octavio Dotel could pitch to Posey. Both times during the season, the strategy worked - Posey grounded into a double play on May 1 against the Marlins and struck out on Sept. 7 against the Dodgers.

This time, Dotel walked Posey on four pitches, pushing Pagan to third, and Hunter Pence hit a sacrifice fly, giving the Giants a two-run lead.

"He's not getting pitched the same," Pagan said of Posey, who has three RBIs in 51 at bats other than the grand slam. "He's getting pitched really tough. He's still getting his hits. He's very valuable for this team, behind the plate and on offense. He's the man."

Despite the Sandoval intentional walk?

"I still say it. He's the man," Pagan said.

Bumgarner commended Posey's work behind the plate, and Posey cited a difference in the left-hander.

"His direction was a lot better," Posey said. "His hand was more north and south instead of side to side. He did a nice job. It's not easy. I know he's been frustrated with the way he's been throwing. For him to come out here tonight, it shows the type of guts he has."

The rotation has experienced a major turnaround from early in the postseason, and Posey never seemed to lose confidence in the starters, saying, "I mean, they're good. They were good all year."

True, in large degree, and speculation about Lincecum's and Zito's supposed issues throwing to Posey continued to hover, at least until the World Series opener in which the pitchers combined for eight innings of one-run ball - with Posey behind the plate.

Now it's as if it's 2010 all over again, and that's good news for a team that won the first two games of the World Series.